By MARY ELIADES
Voice correspondent
FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE DEC.23, 2025, ISSUE OF THE HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE VOICE. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION.
Charles Allen, community engagement director for the National Audubon Society, Gulf Coast, was warmly welcomed by HSV Audubon members and guests for his presentation “Audubon Delta: Treasure Trove of Birds, People and Activities” on Dec. 11.
Allen is responsible for outreach to underrepresented communities in the Gulf Coast region, and his latest efforts have included establishing Audubon chapters in several Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). He is also involved with community engagement and actively works to form partnerships with nonprofits and conservation groups to advance Audubon’s mission to protect birds and their habitats.
Audubon Delta supervises “conservation action centers” and sanctuaries throughout Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. The centers, each with a unique character, “are not just buildings,” said Allen. The purpose of the centers is to engage people in an active way, with “primary targeted audiences” for each center.
The Pascagoula River Audubon Center (PRAC), in Moss Point, Miss., is located on 10 acres along Rhodes Bayou, and features exhibits and activities centered on the Pascagoula River watershed ecosystem. Models of storm water management best practices and techniques for building bird-friendly environments are highlights of the center. Summer camps, Audubon Academy (for home-schooled children), and Nature Tots connect even the youngest visitors to nature through themed activities and programs.
The Little Rock Audubon Center, located on Springer Blvd., covers 450 acres and is a magnet for trail walkers and birdwatchers. The center features birdwatching in several ecosystems, including wetlands (a stopping place for herons, egrets and ducks), a meadow with native grasses and wildflowers to attract sparrows, finches and an occasional hawk, and a forest, with a dense canopy that brings in woodpeckers, owls and warblers. Native plant and seed sales bring visitors in the fall and spring, and the center routinely conducts workshops and field trips.
The Strawberry Plains Audubon Center, in Holly Springs, Miss., covers 2,400 acres, centered on the reconstructed historic Davis House plantation. The property includes hiking trails, native plant gardens, ponds and forests, and offers programs and workshops. Plans for the 2026 Hummingbird Festival are underway, where visitors can learn all about the fascinating birds who stop there on their way to wintering grounds in Mexico or Central America.
The Paul J. Rainey Wildlife Sanctuary outside of Abbeville, La., comprises 26,000 acres and serves as a model of efforts to conserve and revive coastal marshes. The sanctuary researches and applies storm-surge protection measures, benefiting low-lying communities and fishery nurseries. More than 250 bird species make their home there, and deer and alligators are also residents.
Allen described the NATIVE (Native Agriculture To InVigorate Ecosystems) Project, which “aims to empower farmers to produce local ecotype seed resources for grassland habitat restoration efforts across Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.” Farmers are being trained to grow native plants as an “environmentally friendly, climate change-resistant specialty crop that provides both income and on-farm wildlife habitat,” Allen said. “Income is from the sale of seed to meet the growing demand for locally sourced native warm season grasses…plus pollinator-friendly forbs… needed to restore Arkansas’s prairies.”
Restoration of these prairie ecosystems will benefit declining populations of several grassland bird species.
The NATIVE Project also includes seed collection from “multiple ecoregions across the state,” with the goal to provide “the most appropriately sourced seed materials for restoration efforts in these areas.”
Audubon Delta conducts coastal bird surveys along the Gulf Coast, with a focus on shorebirds and seabirds. Volunteers and staff count birds, report banded birds and record environmental conditions and disturbances. Allen described two interesting areas of data collection: rooftop nesting in the New Orleans port area and the Mississippi Coastal Bird Stewardship Program, which combines research and monitoring to protect shorebirds and ecosystems.
In other club business, HSV Audubon elected new officers at the meeting: Chris Cash and Janet Rowe will serve as co-presidents, Laurel Gunderson will remain as secretary, and Kathleen Baal will stay on as treasurer.
The organization is excited to announce that nationally recognized wilderness photographer Tim Ernst will return to the Village on Jan. 8. Come early to get a good seat!